Re China Welfare Institute

I will try to answer some of your comments now that I have heard from my colleague who is still employed at her CWI Children's Palace in the very large city where she lives.

Re indoctrination, the children come indoctrinated. She tells me that they are good little Marxists to the highest degree. Part of her lessons to the older young children was Chinese geography (look at this map? what country is this?) and she did Asia and she did Taiwan, totally unsuspecting, and they all, these little ones, blurted out to the last one that "Taiwan is a province of China near Fujian". Blah-blah-blah.

Then they did the holidays and of course Easter cropped up and she had to teach that this is the day when little children all over the world go looking for rabbits and colored chicken eggs. She was internally livid.

Christmas the same, etc., etc.

In the singing and games class in Chinese, they are taught the Internationale in Chinese and pictures of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Chairman Mao and the others abound in the building.

It is the Party's Children's Palace and the rhetoric is in tune with the title of it. No one should be naive. It might as well be North Korea for all the originality involved.

But most of the facilities are huge and some are outstanding. Parents can observe the classes as they wish and the teachers are monitored and held to a standard of some kind.

But, as my friend says, in five years she has been paid on time all the time. Her housing is probably the best of a foreign teacher in the city and visas, paperwork, etc., are handled quickly and efficiently. All and any problems are quickly papered over.

Teachers at her CWI have been terminated for being slovenly, for arriving late or not arriving at all, or for wreaking of alcohol around little children. Because its little children, there is an extra level of vetting involved -- just be aware of that.

But there is great camaraderie and the other Chinese teachers are warm, welcoming and helpful. She has gone over the age limit now and in spite of provincial rules, they are still keeping her, basically I think, until she is too old and infirm to work anymore. The parents adore her as do the little ones and her presence has increased traffic -- not too mention that in her province, the government tends to rigidly enforce the five-year rule, which at least in her case, seems to have vanished into thin air.

The OP, if you can cut it, now that you know the modus operandi, I would surely do it. I considered my own misery every day and her great happiness every day and knew and realized that I had been a great fool in taking the uni job.

All the best.

Re China welfare institute

Dear Craig,

The China Welfare Institute Pudong located in the nationalized home of one of the Khadoorie family in Pudong, Shanghai operates under the aegis of the Children's Palace Group of China.

Now what is that -- you might ask? All of the Children's Palaces spread across China under the direct control of the Communist Party Youth Section. They existed long before any English language training institute in China. I am quite familiar with them.

They are very busy little beehives of activity and they offer anything and about everything that a child might want in terms of after school and weekend activities. The caveat is, however, that one or one of one's family must be members of the Chinese Communist Party. Their funding is dependent upon the strength of the local Communist Party which given China means that funding is generally quite liberal and generous.

They can offer everything from classical Chinese dance to art to painting to swimming lessons and now English lessons, although this is a very recent addition.

The Director Generals of each Children's Palace or China Welfare Institute are golden parachuted in after a long and usually successful career at the Education Ministry or at the local PSB or any other high profile Chinese government ministry.

i regretted very much that I did not accept their offer of employment when I had the chance but instead made the mistake of my life by accepting employment at a local government university.

Pay might be less than at a private LTI but if you are looking for good connections (guangxi), steady employment, non-worry about pay and non-worry about visa issues, it doesn't get any better than this in China. Just hold firm in terms of contract, salary, housing, etc. My colleague who did go to work for them held firm and secured a nice contract. Her first apartment was a hole in the wall and she made it quite clear that she wouldn't sit for it. After some firm, firm bargaining, they installed her in an apartment in a new high-rise building with quite a view.

You will need to be ready, to have your lessons prepared, to look presentable, not hung over, shaved if you are a man -- the parents continuously give feedback about the laowai and bad feedback equals bye bye. That being said, in terms of satisfactory employment, I wouldn't turn my nose up at it. My colleague is still at her Children's Palace years on and I ditched the public sector sh*t hole university years ago.

The one in Shanghai is even more famous for other reasons -- it was founded by the late Mrs. Soong, one of four of the most famous Chinese women of the 20th century. One Miss Soong became the wife of Generalissimo Chang Kai Shek, the Nationalist leader defeated by Chairman Mao. Another Miss Soong became the wife of the great Sun Yat Sung and she lead a very, very, very revered life, even in Communist China. Chairman Mao himself and Zhou En Lai himself visited her on her deathbed in her villa in Beijing (which villa was never nationalised by the government). The third Miss Soong was married to the head of the Bank of China under Chiang Kai Shek. When the Communists secured victory over the Nationalists, she and her husband looted the Bank of China of all of its gold, silver and they caused all of the safety boxes of all of the branches of the Bank to be opened and they looted those also. As if that were not enough, they looted, perfectly looted, all of the art held in the great museums of China. All of this was then sent by boat and by gunship to Taiwan where they lived in great luxury until the end of their days. This particular Miss Soong was an avowed leftist who stood by the Communist Revolution and engaged in great works of charity. She is also quite revered in modern China.

Any other questions, please let us k n ow.